


The Leather "I Love You"

by OceanTheSoulRebel



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Feels!, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 00:42:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanTheSoulRebel/pseuds/OceanTheSoulRebel
Summary: A leather chestpiece brings them closer together.





	The Leather "I Love You"

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DA Drunk Writing Circle, March 30th. Prompt: Sera/Dagna, saying "I love you."

“Come on, it’s just a few words. ‘I love you!’ Wait, no, how about, ‘I love you.’ Blast it, that’s not right either.”

She sighed, pushing away the stray lock of hair that had escaped her braids since this morning. Her hands ached with the force of her mallet, shaping the hard leather into the right form. “Maybe she’ll just… magically get what I’m trying to say when she gets this?” Dagna mused with a chuckle.

She snorted. “Wait, no, not magic. Never magic. And those flasks and vials are definitely not Sera doing magic, not at all.” Dagna shook her head with a small smile. “Not at all.”

Something creaked behind her. She turned to glance at the door that now lay slightly ajar. Maybe Harritt was feeling better and came back to work? “Harritt, is that you?” No one answered. “Must have been the wind, I guess.” Dagna left her workstation to close the door tightly. No use keeping it open, one of the cats might get in and muck up the armory.

She wrinkled her nose at Harritt’s stern voice repeating the words day in and day out. “Hopefully you’ll need a lot of rest before you get better, you silly man.”

Dagna turned back to walk to the work table and picked up her mallet once more. “I want to tell her,” she confided in the piece of armor. “I want her to know she’s special and brilliant and wonderful and that I love her and… oh, I don’t know the right words, but I’m sure I’ll make you beautiful enough that she’ll just know!”

She had just started setting the scales into the leather when she heard another noise, a sort of scraping. Dagna turned again to look around the room. Did one of the cats sneak in anyway? “There’s no mice for you here, kitty kitty, I make sure of it. You go off and play somewhere else, I’m busy.”

Her mallet fell in a simple rhythm - swing, _tink_! swing, _tink_! - as she worked, riveting the layers of wyvern scales over the leather. If she got it right, it could move just as easily as her elven archer love, all supple and twisty and fun, without binding too tight or keeping her from a full draw. Dagna was no archer, for sure, but she’d watched Sera practice for many, many hours, getting to know the way her shoulders rippled under the tension of the bowstring, the paths of bulging muscles pulling with practiced ease to draw and release each arrow. She’d even wheedled more accurate measurements from Lady Montilyet’s tailor friend from when they’d had the crew fit for Halamshiral outfits.

She had made many perfect, precious pieces of armor, but this would be her best yet.

The strips of plate and scales layered neatly over each other, looking all the more like dragon scales. She was particularly proud of that. It was the key detail of her design, after all; Sera had come back to Skyhold a week ago all sorts of giddy and bubbly, even far more than usual, still riding the high of killing that dragon weeks before. It was…

The sight of her face was amazing to behold, all smiles and angles and bright, bright eyes.

Dagna grinned at the memory and went back to her work. The main piece was almost done, now that the plates were secured, and needed the right padding and some final shaping before everything could be put together. This was her favorite part; she always loved a good puzzle, and making sure everything matched up just right and fit together flush was the best. She didn’t often craft a weapon or a piece of armor from the beginning, but this was special.

This would… it would be special.

Hours passed as she worked, until finally all that was left was to add the buckles and stitch the sides together, but first, a final addition. “Just another little touch,” she murmured happily. Dagna almost skipped to the forge and pulled a thin iron rod from the heat, white hot as she carefully carried it back to the table.

Tongue between her teeth, she gently outlined the design she had traced over the inside of the leather collar beforehand, a small heart and a rough sketch of a bee. The leather burned and smoked a little at the heat, but she didn’t care. It was almost finished, and it would be perfect, and it would be–

Another noise distracted her from her work.

“Flames!”

Her hand had skipped on the bee stinger, leaving it a little droopy and kind of sad looking on the leather. Dagna pursed her lips. I will not cry, I will not cry, she told herself as she surveyed the damage. It’s just a bee.

“But now it’s… weird,” she sighed anyway. “It’s weird and it’s ugly and… maybe she won’t get it now.” Dagna slowly trudged back to the forge and laid the rod next to its heat. “But maybe she won’t notice it?”

It was a long shot. Sera noticed everything but maybe she’d like it anyway. No use moping around beforehand, at any rate. “At least the heart was simple enough not to mess up,” she told herself.

Stitching it all together was easily done, and the buckles would tighten it to fit against Sera’s frame and protect her from anything, she was sure of it. Dagna made the final, final touch of buffing the scales and metal pieces, the thin layer of oil creating a pleasant sheen.

“Everyone will see how wonderful she is now,” she told the chestpiece. Dagna clutched it to her with a smile, the short skirt of leather and dragon webbing brushing down her shins. “And even though you’ve got a weird bee buzzing inside you, you’ll keep my Sera coming home safe for me. Tough job, I’m sure, but I know you’re up for it.”

Something hit the ground behind her with a thud. Dagna whirled around to find Sera just… standing there on the upper level of the room, her face scrunched and twisted at something.

“Sera, are you okay? What’s wrong, are you hurt? Should I call a healer?” The worst case scenarios raced through her mind as Sera swayed on her feet.

“Feelings,” Sera said, her voice all choked up. “Never much cared for ‘em, never been good at ‘em.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at her feet.

Dagna stared. “Tell me you just walked in and only saw me being silly.” Her stomach twisted in a knot as Sera wouldn’t meet her eyes, only kicking her foot at the stone floor. “Sera?”

“You made that for me?” Sera asked quietly. “Why?”

“Because…”  _I love you!_ The words were so close. So close! She and Sera never promised each other anything, just good times and easy companionship. Sera hated the idea of breaking a promise, so she never made them, and Dagna took it to heart and went with it. If they were a thing, they were a thing, and that was that.

But it was harder now. One look at Sera’s face after the dragon and she knew. It was just right there, her heart burst with it, until it felt like there was nothing else inside her but Sera and how much she cared. I love you! I love you! I love you!

“I want you safe, Sera. I… I’m the masterwork armorer. Of course I made you something, you’re one of Her Worship’s best friends. You put yourself in danger all the time. Of course I made you new armor.”

_I love you._

Sera sniffled and moved to sit on the a nearby crate. “Can I see it?” she asked with a watery voice. Dagna nodded and followed her up the stairs, moving to sit next to her.

“It’s wyvern scale and gurn hide with some dragon webbing. All good for keeping you safe, even from another dragon, if you wanted.” Dagna handed the armor to Sera, who poked and prodded at the scales. “Plus, it’s padded for comfort, and it’s even got a little plaidweave on the interior. I know it’s your favorite and…” She trailed off as Sera raised her head.

“You put a bee in it. And a heart?”

 _Because I love you._  “I know you like bees,” Dagna said with a blush. “Sorry it’s got a broken stinger.”

Sera shook her head with a small laugh, her choppy blonde hair flying about her face. “It’s weird and I love it.” Her fingers caressed over the materials.

“You were here the whole time, weren’t you, my sneaky friend?”

Sera nodded. “Wanted to surprise you, maybe bug you about lunch, but you were so happy lookin’ as you worked. You always talk to your stuff like that?”

Dagna blushed again and looked down at her feet. “Not all the time, just when–”

“You’re really happy?”

She looked up and Sera was staring at her. “Yeah, when I’m really happy.” She smiled, and Sera gave a small smile in return.

“I’m not good with feelings,” Sera muttered. “I like what I like, and I go for it, yeah? I don’t try to think too hard about it. Brownies, good. Cookies, shite. Just get what I like and get on with it, y’know? And you…” She blew a short burst of air at her bangs. “You’re really somethin’ else, you know, Widdle. Just so… you’re just so good!”

Sera curled herself around the armor, all long limbs and pointy elbows. “But I know I like you, Widdle. Sometimes it’s scary, and sometimes it’s not, and it’s like… it’s like I got a jar of bees in my belly! Just, whenever you’re around. All the time. And then you do somethin’ like this, and I…”

Dagna laid a nervous hand on Sera’s knee. “I love you, Sera.”  _There, I said it! I said it. Way to go, Dagna. Hard part is done._  “Even though you don’t like cookies. Even dogs like cookies, Sera. Dogs!”

“Well…” Sera peeked out from where she had hidden her face. “Maybe we can make better cookies,” she said hesitantly.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Sera unfolded herself and covered Dagna’s hand with her own. “I… I love you, too, Widdle. Dagna. It’s scary, and I try not to think about the scary bits, but I do.”

Her heart swelled. Dagna reclaimed the leather chestpiece and lowered it to the ground before wrapping her arms around Sera. “We can be scared together, though, right?”

Sera gave a small laugh and laid a kiss over her hair, returning the embrace. “Yeah, Widdle. Let’s be scared together.”


End file.
